


Coffee and an Apology

by idigam



Category: Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Post Eyewitness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 10:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11102334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idigam/pseuds/idigam
Summary: This is set immediately after the episode Eyewitness in which Terry is on the run for a "murder" charge. Honestly the moments where Terry and Barbara are forced to interact were some of my favorite I really wish this had been a moment like this in the show.





	Coffee and an Apology

Terry walks into the diner, he can’t help but feel wary. Juvie instincts die hard, juvie instincts and bat training and last night’s manhunt? Superhero or not Terry’s not about to look at a squad car the same way again.

 

Barbara is already there, sitting in the back corner by the window, it’s the middle of the day but after the lunch rush. There are two people at the bar area and the skeleton crew staff. Taking his seat opposite her Barbara starts talking without looking up from whatever report she’s filing. “I owe you an apology,” Terry squirms and replies “old news.” The commissioner cuts him off with a look, “kid this is for my sanity as much as anything, frankly.” She takes a steadying breath, clearly dredging up some old and likely painful memory, Terry sips his coffee and waits patiently. “Spellbinder was right, it was easy, too easy. I turned on you faster than the city did during the incident with Shriek, and that isn’t fair, to you or Bruce.” Terry shrugs, “no, it isn’t but neither are a lot of things, so you aren’t better than everyone else. So what?” Barbara chuckles, in many ways he’s so much like Bruce, the fact that she’s apologizing seems to make him more uncomfortable than her, and he’s trying to comfort her even though she wronged him. “Bruce doesn’t talk about the old days much, does he?” Terry pouts, honest to goodness pouts, he’s still so young. “Not unless I can annoy him enough.”

 

Barbara nods, “let me tell you about an incident with Scarecrow, the day I died, and my father found out what I had been doing.” Terry looks up at her “you look good for a dead woman.” Barbara scoffs; “don’t interrupt. We’d just hit the roof, Scarecrow pushed me off the ledge onto my dad’s squad car, twenty or so stories down. My father blamed Bruce for not telling him about what I had been doing, he revealed who he was, and he raided the cave, arrested Dick and Alfred. In a few short days Bruce had been destroyed, Batman, and the legacy of it, gone. My father and Bruce destroyed each other and damaged this city doing it. I found out later that I had been under the influence of Scarecrow’s poison, I lived my worst nightmare. As of last night, I almost lived it again, this time under my own making. So yes kid, I owe you an apology, and a warning, thinking you’ve seen it all. That you’re above help. That’s when you invite destruction, Bruce and the rest of us learned that the hard way.” She stand and swipes her card at the table, “enjoy your coffee kid.” Terry watches stunned as she exits the building into the city.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't exactly part of my Batman Beyond series but I think of it as canon for that series so just consider that.


End file.
